Happy 2007!

All in all, 2006 was a good year for me, full of knitting firsts. Here are some of the highlights:

- First lace project
- First fair isle
- First pair of socks
- First 3 sweaters
- First baby booties
- First baby blanket
- First wrist warmers and fingerless gloves
- First beaded project
- First attempts to modify and improvise patterns
- First trip to Rhinebeck

I don't have any specific knitting goals for 2007, but I would like to try and keep my stash under control and get braver about modifying patterns and making up my own.

Self-indulgence

I generally refrain from buying things for myself before the holidays, but immediately afterwards I tend to go on a bit of a shopping spree.


This snail-like contraption is a needle threader. Until now, I've been using the kind of needle threader that has a wire loop. Those work very well with sewing needles and thread, but they are pretty delicate and have a tendency to break when used with thick yarn. I suspected there must be a device better tailored to threading yarn, and the other day when I was in Daytona Trimmings, I happened upon this cute little item. Unfortunately it has some rough edges from when the metal was stamped out, but it works pretty well and I'm not afraid it's going to break.


One of the Christmas gifts we bought for a friend this year was from the Bust Boobtique, and in order to, um, make the shipping cost worthwhile, I ordered a copy of Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation for myself. I had taken it out of the library a while back, copied a few pages, and made the Fairly Easy Fair Isle cardigan from it. The book contains many good patterns and lots of useful information about modifying patterns, adding waist shaping, etc., so I wanted a copy of my own.


The gizmo above is an "ear light." I have to thank Christine from the Pointy Sticks podcast for sharing her three favorite knitting things: her ear light, highlighter tape, and dpn protectors! Shortly after hearing that podcast, I went to the Discovery Store at Grand Central and picked up an ear light. It enabled me to knit Courtney's tassel hat in the car the night we drove to Pittsburgh. I found it to be more comfortable than my head lamp which I have used for the same purpose.

I also ordered a pair of handmade dpn stitch protectors from Three Owls Knitting on Etsy! She has instructions on her blog on how to make them, but I really like the ones she's selling, and they're reasonably priced. This was my first Etsy purchase!

Tracking down highlighter tape was a little tricky. Staples didn't have it, and I thought Christine said it was made by 3M, but I couldn't find it on their web site. Eventually I found highlightertape.com (they also have an eBay store) and ordered the one-line (1/6") tape. This should be very helpful with knitting charts. I'm currently knitting Shedir and wishing I already had my highlighter tape!

Also for Shedir, I picked up a US 3 circular needle (my first bamboo circ) and dpns (by KA, a brand I haven't tried before).

And...I bought more yarn! I ordered a couple skeins from Lisa Souza. One is a skein of superwash sport merino in the "Violet's Pink Ribbon" colorway. The proceeds from that yarn will go towards medical bills for Violet from the Lime and Violet podcast, who recently found a lump in her breast. The yarn is pink, which isn't a favorite color of mine, but I'll probably use it to make something for a baby. It was a great excuse to try out Lisa's handpainted yarn, about which I've heard wonderful things. While I was at it, I also purchased a skein of merino sock yarn in the "Earth Birth" colorway.

Odessa II

John got his hat in time for Christmas!

John's Odessa
Started: Dec. 23
Finished: Dec. 24
Pattern: Odessa by Grumperina (sans beads)
Yarn: RYC CashSoft DK, 1 skein
Needles: US 4 plastic circ, US 6 Addi Turbos, US 6 dpns

Cute as a button

On the way to Pittsburgh I knitted a hat to match Courtney's placket sweater. I casted on 80 stitches, joined for knitting in the round, did k2p2 ribbing for about an inch, then placed markers every 20 stitches and alternated stockinette for 20 stitches, then seed stitch for 20 stitches, etc. I continued this until the hat was about 6 inches long, and then I bound off. I turned the hat inside out, laid it flat so that the seed stitch was in the middle and the stockinette was on the edges, and backstitched the top together. Then I made 2 tassels and attached them at the corners. Very simple, but it turned out pretty cute!

The sweater fits better than I could have hoped -- the sleeves and body are the right length, and there's a bit of growing room. She seemed to enjoy wearing both the hat and the sweater, to the extent that she repeatedly put them on herself throughout our visit!


Courtney's tassel hat
Started: Dec. 22
Finished: Dec. 24
Pattern: Inspired by "Fat Hats" pattern in Hip to Knit, also page 111 in Knitting Rules! (Scarf Rescue Hat section)
Yarn: Tess' Designer Yarns Superwash Merino, leftovers from placket sweater (with still more remaining)
Needles: US 8 Addi Turbos

Knitting-related gifts!

I was very lucky this holiday season to receive 5 gifts overflowing with knitting wisdom!

• Amy and Derek gave me the fabulous 'Knitting to go' patterns, by Kris Percival, which come on individual cards for extra portability. There are some great patterns in there, lots of classic designs plus ideas on improvising. I especially love the men's V-neck sweater and the soft baby blocks.


• Mom and Dad gave me the 'Stitch 'n' Bitch Knitter's Calendar,' by Debbie Stoller. I'm very strict with myself about page-a-day calendars (no peeking ahead!), so this morning I woke up eager to open it up and look at the first page. Mondays are "Fave Fiber" writeups, and I learned about a yarn I hadn't heard of before. I'm looking forward to Tuesday tips, Wednesday Web Sightings, Knitting History on Thursdays, and Grab-and-Go Patterns on Fridays!


• Elizabeth Zimmerman's 'Knitting Workshop' is also from Mom and Dad. I'm about halfway through it, and I'm learning a lot about sweater construction. I can't wait to try out some of the techniques! EDITED TO ADD: In this book, Elizabeth Zimmerman describes how to add short row shaping to the neck of a sweater in the back to make it fit better. This would have been a big improvement to John's zip raglan cardigan! His main complaint about that sweater is that the collar is too short in the back and won't turn down. Now I'll know for the next sweater!
  


• Andrew gave me Barbara Walker's 'Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns,' which is even thicker than the First! It contains pages and pages of cable, lace, and color patterns that I'm itching to try out.


• Rounding out my library of knitting essentials is 'Knitting From the Top,' also by Barbara Walker (another gift from Mom and Dad). I've started flipping through and it looks amazing. This book, along with the EZ books, should help me go farther in deviating from patterns.

Thanks Amy, Derek, Mom, Dad, and Andrew, for these fantastic additions to my knitting library!

A most amazing scarf

This is the scarf that Emily made. Isn't it beautiful?!? She alternated 2 rows of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted with 2 rows of Inca Alpaca some Jo Sharp yarn (I think), and the effect is breathtaking! I love the way the colors dance with each other for the length of the scarf. The different textures and weights of the two yarns make it even more appealing, both visually and tactilely. And it's so soft and warm! Thank you so much, Emma!

Emily's Odessa

Last night John and I exchanged holiday gifts with our dear friends Emily and Chris. They bestowed upon us a most amazing scarf. This is a scarf I had been admiring and petting while Emily was still working on it, before it had a designated recipient. How did she know it was just what I wanted? John and I have both worn it already (not at the same time) and it's around my neck as I type this. Pictures are forthcoming.

We gave Emily this Odessa hat:

I loved knitting this pattern! I didn't make any modifications. It took 121 beads and one skein of RYC CashSoft DK with just a few yards left over. Before I gave it to Emily, John agreed to model it for me:

After trying it on, John wants a hat that fits the same way, maybe even this same pattern but without the beads. I'd love to knit this again, so he'll probably get his wish!

I hope Emily enjoys wearing this hat as much as I enjoyed making it!

Emily's Odessa
Started: Dec. 15
Finished: Dec. 17
Pattern: Odessa by Grumperina
Yarn: RYC CashSoft DK, 1 skein
Needles: US 4 plastic circ, US 6 Addi Turbos, US 6 dpns

Irish hiking gifts

This Irish hiking scarf and matching wrist warmers are for my mother-in-law. The only modification I made to the Hello Yarn Irish hiking scarf pattern was to use "uneven cables" which I found in Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns. Instead of putting 3 stitches on a cable needle and knitting the next 3 before knitting the 3 from the cable needle, you put 2 stitches on the cable needle and knit the next 4. I like the way these cables turn out, and they're a bit easier to do. I went with a 6-row repeat, as opposed to the 8-row cables in the Hello Yarn pattern.

The finished scarf is about 60" long. The ends don't fan out much because I did the first cable row on row 3 (the Hello Yarn pattern has you do it at row 8). Likewise I ended the scarf 2 rows after the last cable row.


I improvised a matching wrist warmer pattern, after a botched attempt at modifying the wrist warmer pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. The wrist warmers I made are 36 stitches around (3 repeats of the 12-stitch cable pattern). I started at the arm, and after 22 rounds began increasing for the thumb gusset. I increased 2 stitches every other round until there were 42 stitches. In round 35 I bound off 8 stitches at the thumb, and in round 36 I cast on 2 stitches to complete the circle. After another 10 rounds, I bound off.

1/15/07 EDITED TO ADD: I have posted the complete pattern.


Irish hiking scarf
Started: Nov. 1(?)
Finished: Nov. 30(?)
Pattern: From Hello Yarn
Yarn: Bernat Satin, Sterling, 3 skeins (used very little of the 3rd skein)
Needles: US 8 Addi Turbos

Irish hiking wrist warmers
Started: Dec. 1(?)
Finished: Dec. 9
Pattern: My own
Yarn: Bernat Satin, less than 1 skein
Needles: US 8 dpns

FO: Courtney's placket sweater

This is my first completed hand-knitted holiday gift of the season. Yikes! I'm probably going to have to set my holiday knitting goals a little lower in order to preserve my sanity.

Modifications:

- Yarn substitution. This was my first experience with Tess' Designer Yarns, and I really enjoyed it. I bought this 570-yard hank of yarn at Brooklyn General with what was left of my gift certificate. I had been intending to go with RYC CashSoft DK, but they don't carry it at Brooklyn General. The nice woman who worked there suggested Tess' yarn, and it was love at first sight. The hand-painted color is beautiful and organic-looking, subtly variegated, and, I think at least, unusual in a good way for a little girl's sweater. (Courtney has so much pink and purple clothing already!) This yarn is soft in the skein, and I found that it gets even softer after knitting up and washing. I kept stroking the swatch and rubbing it against my cheek. It's superwash, unlike the Koigu Kersti suggested in a pattern. My only complaint with this yarn is that there were a couple of spots where it was a bit frayed. There were no knots at all; I guess it's acceptable to have a couple defects in such a giant skein. This yarn is light worsted, as opposed to the DK weight Koigu Kersti. My stitch gauge came out to 21 sts = 4" just as the pattern calls for, but I got 28 rows to 4" rather than 32.


- Added 1" to the sleeve length. Courtney just turned 2, and though she is small for her age, when I had knitted a sleeve to the pattern's specifications, it just looked too short (and I confirmed this by checking the baby size chart). I figure they can always be rolled up if they are too long.


- Picked up the 5 stitches for the placket, instead of using cable cast-on and sewing them on later. A cable needle helped to keep the two placket layers separated while they were too short to sit side by side on the circular needle.


- Added buttonholes and buttons. I found the buttons at M&J Trimming, which is just a couple blocks from where I work. They are clear plastic, with flowers painted onto the bottom -- they almost look like real pressed flowers.



- Reversed the placket. This was accidental, but it's my understanding that small children's clothes are meant to have the buttons on the other side anyway, since they generally do not dress themselves.

- Started seed stitch for neckband a row early, worked 6 rows of seed stitch instead of 8. I didn't want such a high collar.

- Upper body is a bit longer due to different row gauge. This should add some extra ease around the shoulders, which seems like a good idea for an active 2-year-old.

Note on Lion Brand plastic double-pointed needles: they rattle! I don't know why they didn't just make them solid. They seem to have some sort of core floating inside. I bought these at A.C. Moore due to lack of other options at the time. I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to buy these needles in the future. I also found them to be a little too slippery for dpns, which may have been part of the reason why I knitted the first sleeve super tightly. I had to rip out that sleeve and start over, thinking "loose, loose, loose" the whole time. A couple times my knitting slipped off one of the needles, but the yarn wasn't very slippery so hardly any stitches dropped.

Courtney's placket sweater
Started: Nov. 6
Finished: Nov. 22
Pattern: Child's placket sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, corrected version found here. Size: 1-2 years. See modifications above.
Yarn: Tess' Designer Yarns Superwash Merino, 1 skein
Needles: US 7 Denises (21" circular), US 7 dpns (Lion Brand plastic)

FO: Griffindor scarf

Done! This took more yarn than I expected -- 3 skeins of each color instead of 2, but knitting it wasn't as time-consuming or tedious as I expected either. I ended up not blocking it, since I flattened it out as I knitted, keeping the color changes along the edge. Also, accounts seem to differ as to whether blocking is effective on 100% acrylic yarn.

Griffindor scarf
Started: Dec. 20
Finished: Dec. 31
Yarn: Tolegno Lana Gatto Luxor, 3 skeins scarlet, 3 skeins yellow
Needles: metal circular size 8

Happy New Year!

On Sunday I celebrated Hanukkah and New Year's Day with my Grandma (and many other family members). You can sort of see the scarf I knit for her in this picture.

The Denise needles arrived today, so I can get started on Grandma's vest tonight! It will be a belated Hanukkah gift. I used Grandma's Hanukkah gelt to purchase the needles, so it all comes around full circle.

I've been reading Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Knitting Without Tears" and she's convinced me I need to try and relax my stitches a bit. This will be one of my New Year's resolutions.

Holidays are for knitting

My long weekend in Pittsburgh was a great opportunity to get some knitting done. First I worked on the Griffindor scarf until I ran out of yarn. I've still got a few more stripes to go, especially now that I've found out that Andrew wants to wear it doubled up and looped through. (Is there a name for that method of scarf wearing?) We're talking about a guy who's never even had a scarf before. But apparently law students spend a lot of time discussing things such as how scarves ought to be worn.

Then I finished up John's double-knit ski cap. My purls must be looser than my knits, as the yellow side came out significantly bigger than the gray side. I'm hoping blocking will fix it. The stripes also didn't land where I wanted them. I had envisioned the hat being long enough to fold the edge up, so I started the stripes later, made them thicker, and added some extra rows before beginning the decreases. It still ended up being just long enough to cover John's ears without folding up the edge. And the stripes are very close to the top of the hat. Oh well -- live and learn. John says he's happy with it. Still, I know he'd prefer to wear it with the gray side out, but as it is right now, the extra fabric on the yellow side gets all wadded up inside so it isn't comfortable. The good news is, the reason I haven't had a chance to block it is that John has been wearing it every day!


While in Pittsburgh I got to see Courtney wearing her Kittyville hat. It fits her perfectly, and her parents like it because it covers her ears. One potential danger is that the pom-poms are just the right size to fit in her mouth. I probably should have made them bigger. During our stay I learned that she needs a pair of mittens, so the night I got back to Brooklyn, I found a pattern and made a pair from the same yarn I used for the kitty hat (Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted). The thumbs came out very long even though I made them shorter than the pattern suggested. I don't think it's something I can fix with blocking, so I'm planning to try and redo them. It's going to be tricky since I already seamed up the thumbs and weaved in the ends. Once I get a measurement from her mom, I will also make an I-cord to connect the mittens.


I also started trying to make gauge for Grandma's vest. It calls for size 8 needles, but I know my stitches tend to be tight, plus the yarn I bought (Lion's Brand Wool-Ease) is on the lighter side of worsted, so I started with US size 9. My stitches came out way too tiny. I didn't have any larger needles, so when I got home I bought some cheap 10's and 10.5's. (I was hoping to come across a Denise interchangeable set, but couldn't find it in stores so I bought it on eBay.) Last night I started a new gauge swatch, following the method outlined in Stitch 'N Bitch Nation, which I have out from the library. With US size 10's I was still way off. With 10.5's I'm getting closer, but I'm wondering if 11's might be better. At this point I'm not going to purchase any more needles, but will wait for the Denise set to arrive. (I'm so excited!)

The Christmas scarves seemed to go over well. Turns out Amy had her eye on a cashmere cable-knit scarf from L.L. Bean, so the Irish hiking scarf worked out nicely. Though now I wish I had used cashmere instead of acrylic! Derek seemed pleased with the Broncos scarf. Apparently the blue I used is their "old" blue, and one of the patches is their old logo, which seemed to be plusses.

Last night I tried to attend the local Stitch 'n Bitch group for the first time, but when I got to the designated coffee shop, I couldn't find any other knitters. I bought some tea, settled down on a couch and started knitting, waiting to see if anyone else would show up, but nobody did! I guess a lot of people are out of town the week between Christmas and New Year's.

John's double-knit ski cap
Started: Nov. 30
Finished: Dec. 26
Yarn: Tolegno Lana Gatto Luxor, 1 skein yellow, 1 skein dark gray
Needles: metal circular size 6, bamboo dpns size 6

Griffindor scarf

The Griffindor scarf for my brother is about 1/3 finished. At this rate it will be ready in time for Hanukkah, no problem, assuming I don't run out of yarn. The pattern is the Hogwarts scarf from Atypically.Knit, and I'm using the same Lana Gatto Luxor yarn that I'm using for John's double-knit ski cap (on which I've made some progress, but am having some difficulty changing colors for the stripes). It does look like I'm going to run out of yarn, and getting back to School Products may be challenging in light of the transit strike. I've been working from home since Tuesday and haven't set foot in Manhattan. Tomorrow we leave for Pittsburgh. Oh well, my brother won't mind if his gift is a little late.

The big thing on my mind right now is my grandma's health. She had her leg amputated yesterday. I really want to get started knitting that vest for her. I feel so horrible about what she's been going through, and I'm hoping a hand-knitted gift will cheer her up some.

Finishing touches

The patches arrived yesterday, and last night I managed to sew them on without injuring myself too seriously. (I'm not used to using needles that are actually sharp!) I also added the fringe, which nicely covers up the fact that one end of the scarf is narrower than the other.

Having done that, I decided to see if fringe would also cover up the fanned-out end of the Irish hiking scarf. I'd say that was successful as well. I used yarn from the very inside of a skein so it's all curly, which I think goes nicely with the cables.


Diagonal Denver scarf
Started: Dec. 12
Finished: Dec. 19
Yarn: Bernat Super Value, 1 skein Carrot, 1 skein Royal Blue
Needles: US 9 bamboo straights

Irish hiking scarf
Started: Dec. 8
Finished: Dec. 12 (added fringe Dec. 19)
Yarn: Bernat Satin in sapphire, 2 skeins plus a little extra for the fringe
Needles: US 9 bamboo straights

Holiday crunch time

The gifts are almost ready! I just have to add some fringe to the Denver scarf. And maybe sew on patches if they arrive. And perhaps try to redo the bind-off on the Irish hiking scarf. And possibly block both scarves. And finish John's hat. And, oh, knit a Griffindor scarf for my brother. And a vest for my grandma! Fortunately Hanukkah's late this year -- we're celebrating on Jan. 1 -- and at least I'm in pretty good shape with the Christmas gifts! I'll have lots of knitting time when we drive to Pittsburgh on Friday.

Over the weekend Mom took me clothes shopping at the Danbury Mall. I kept getting distracted by all the knitwear. Instead of looking for things to buy, I kept thinking, "I bet that wouldn't be hard to make!"

I also stopped at JoAnn Fabrics and bought some alpine fleece to sew inside my Gimli hat for extra warmth and softness. That will of course have to wait till after the holidays. I'll also try and fix the tassels which are coming apart strand by strand.

Diagonal progress

Almost halfway there. I'd be much farther along, but I keep making dumb mistakes and having to go back. This is definitely the most frogging I've done on any project so far. Last night I tried to knit on the subway but somehow ended up making negative progress! When I got home I made actual positive progress though.

Yesterday I purchased a couple little Broncos patches on eBay. I'm thinking it might look cute to sew one on either end of the scarf, but I'll have to see how it looks. If the patches even arrive in time.

It's kind of weird to knit something I'd never wear myself. John assures me the recipient will like it, and that's all that really matters!

Diagonal Denver scarf

This is going to be a Christmas gift for a Denver Broncos fan. I started it last night, using the Diagon Alley scarf pattern from ohmystars. The yarn is Bernat Super Value, which happens to come in the right colors (Carrot and Royal Blue, I believe) and is quite affordable. Can't say I really enjoy working with this yarn -- it's so rubbery it almost squeaks. Too bad I got spoiled on luxurious yarns so early in my knitting career!

Started: Dec. 12
Finished: not yet!
Yarn: Bernat Super Value, 1 skein Carrot, 1 skein Royal Blue
Needles: US 9 bamboo straights

Irish hiking scarf

Last night I finished the Irish hiking scarf which will be a Christmas gift. This was my first go at cables. I love the way they thicken the scarf.

Looks like I will have to block this one. I'm not sure I bound off quite right -- it seems to have flattened out at the end, but maybe that's normal? I also made a couple mistakes along the edge, but I don't think they're terribly noticeable. I know how to turn knits into purls and purls into knits (thank you Stitch 'n Bitch handbook!) but when the mistake happens along the edge, I get all confused when I try and fix it.

The scarf is 52 inches long. It would have been longer, but Norton the dog got a hold of the third skein, and in the process unravelled and drooled all over the yarn. That was a fun scene to come home to -- at first I thought he had unravelled my work. I was relieved to discover that it was just unused yarn. 52 inches should be long enough for this scarf, as its intended recipient, like me, is a hair under 5 feet tall.

Started: Dec. 8
Finished: Dec. 12
Yarn: Bernat Satin in sapphire, 2 skeins
Needles: US 9 bamboo straights

John's double-knit ski cap

A couple weeks ago I started this hat for John, but it's on hold while I churn out some X-mas presents. It's the double-knit ski cap from the blue blog. I wanted to make John a hat to match his scarf, but he said the Manos would be a bit too scratchy on his ears. Also, I've been spending way too much money on fancy yarns. So I went to School Products and found this 100% acrylic yarn called Luxor by Tolegno Lana Gatto in a very similar yellow and a lovely dark gray.

I did a real gauge swatch for this one, and it came out perfect for the pattern. So far the hat seems to be exactly the right size. Maybe my stitches aren't as ridiculously tight anymore.

Double knitting sure is time-consuming! I can't wait to get to the stripes.

Started: Nov. 30
Finished: not yet!
Yarn: Tolegno Lana Gatto Luxor, 1 skein yellow, 1 skein dark gray
Needles: metal circular size 6